Myst

"The people who gave this game awards obviously don't play video games much"

Back about, oh, ten years ago, I recieved the game Myst so I would have a game on my Windows 3.1 computer.

Thankfully, the person also gave me REAL games too...

Hello, is anyone home?

Normally, I'd give you guys a rough idea of what your goal is. But, I can't do that for Myst. Why? Because it would be a SPOILER. That's right, even the most basic idea of the game's main goal is a part of the game. You start Myst on an island where people are missing. And that's it. No info on what's you're supposed to do, no hints on what you're goal is. NOTHING!!!

Now, mind you, you ARE able to find these. By performing a certain action, you'll be able to watch a fuzzy video of a guy wanting help. You don't get anything from him, just an idea of what you're supposed to get for him. After that easy task, the game turns you loose. It doesn't tell you WHERE (like which continent sort of where) to go.

In general Myst is a series of puzzles. You can gain slight clues for those puzzles from elsewhere on the island, but for the most part, you're on your own. Now, this would be FINE if these were simple move the box puzzles. But they're NOT. Puzzles include guessing the right time on a clock, Guessing the right power level to open a door, or, my personal favorite, pushing in the exact right combination of little squares to access a secret (but necessary for the game) passage. To be fair, you DO get a little book that tells you the possible combinations that could work. Unfortunately, there are well over a 100 possibilities, and well over 100 squares. That's ALL the game IS.

There are four worlds where you can find these items that you're supposed to get. The puzzles on the island allow you access to these other worlds, where there are more puzzles. I hope you can solve THESE puzzles, too. Cause if you can't, you're stuck there. The only way out of these other worlds is too find one of the items you were there looking for.

Besides the fact that it's impossible to solve these puzzles, it's boring even when you do. There's no elation at the solving of a difficult puzzle, because half the time you don't know WHY you solved it. When you DO know why, your joy is crushed because another puzzle is waiting right behind it!

It all boils down to that Myst is a boring game. Simple as that. It hardly is a game, it's more of a chore.

I suppose I should mention the good points too.

Hang on...

Um...

It's hard. Difficulty's good, right? I'm a fan of difficult games, as long as it's not insane difficulty like Myst does. Reasonable difficulty is ok; just don’t drop me off without a hint.

Also, it's realistic. Too much so, but it IS realistic.

Did I mention that there's no action?

Oooo, look at the pretty colors

The only, and I do mean ONLY redeeming factor Myst look good. VERY good. The graphics of Myst, which was released in 1993, rival the graphics of late 32-bit generation games. Really. It’s quite amazing. The FMV scenes are quite nice as well. It’s the only good thing about the game, but it’s darn good. There’s very little music, none of it that good. The Voices come across well, however. It’s too bad that Graphics and good Audio can’t save the trainwreck that is Myst.

So, when does the fun part come in?

Pros
++ Amazing Graphics for its time, they still look pretty good.

Cons
---- No direction
---- Hidden Goals
--- Random Puzzles
--- Many puzzles require tedious guess and check

I don’t know HOW people like this game. Sure, back in 1993, it had good graphics, but it STILL had terrible gameplay, because it didn’t exist. The graphics are wonderful, but all that means is that while you’re wandering along, bored, you’ll have something nice to look at. I guess if you just liked to think a lot it would have some value, but, then, why would you play games? Myst isn’t worth your time if you want a game. It’s more of a nature walk. And if you want one of those, there are plenty of national parks to keep you satisfied. Go out and actually take a hike...

It’ll be more fun anyway.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 04/20/04